A Mercentile Encounter
by Yerk
Summary: Four mercenaries in the warhammer 40,000 universe are repelling an Ork attack and encounter another, more deadly foe.
1. A Town Under Threat

Petr Solomon is the counsellor of the Mayor of a small fort town called Sennaville. The town has been constantly attacked by hordes of orks in the past. The people see it as a way of life when the warning bell rings, signalling for the townsfolk to flee into the fort. The town can usually fend for themselves, but sometimes they have to hire mercenaries to help the town. Mercenaries like the squad of troops that are the focus of this story.  
  
"Herman Greygor known to his friends as 'Grey'. He is the large man of the group. Equipped with his trusty imperial issue autogun. Jacob Gangrel, known as 'Gangrel' is an ex Imperial Guard sergeant and carries a customised slugthrower pistol and a large knife. Herlak Kahn is an ex Imperial soldier from the Tallarn desert raider regiment. He carries a very highly customised sniper rifle. This weapon has been known to malfunction, its bearer is also quite mad. And last is Oliver Wulf, an ex colonel from the Guard colony on the hive world of Nassgaroth. All these men are for hire as specialist troops, sir. Wulf leads them, and they call themselves the Blackswords" Said Petr Solomon as he poured himself some strong alcoholic beverage from a silver pitcher. The room's walls were black with little windows in the room. This makes the conference hall dark and gloomy. The windows have mesh over for security. "So three of the four men you have mentioned are ex guardsmen?" asked Mayor Talbot. "Yes sir" replied Solomon "How did they leave the Imperial army? One does not simply resign from the army" "Ah. Yes sir. Wulf was discharged from the Imperial service and sentenced to prison on Fargoth Prime 4." "Why was he discharged?" "Because he launched a last stand on a camp of traitor guardsmen, against strict orders. In his statement at court he claimed that 'he would rather die fighting for the emperor than die a coward'. The judge regretted punishing him, but didn't want to start a scandal. He later escaped from the prison vehicle and fled." Answered Solomon. "So you want me to hire an outlaw?" asked the Mayor disapprovingly. "If we don't we may not survive another ork attack" "I see. Yes hire them" Said Mayor Talbot as he sipped from his silver goblet.  
  
Wulf stepped out of the wheeled transport. Wulf wasn't of a particularly large build; in fact he was quite skinny. His autogun shined in the blazing sun. This autogun wasn't Wulf's weapon of choice, but because he had such bad luck with weapons he could never have the same one for more than a week due to losing them on the field of battle or insufficient funds. He shuffled his feet in the hot sand and turned towards the transport and looked at his men. Herman 'Grey' Greygor jumped from the open back of the transport. He stroked his autogun that was slung over his shoulder. Herlak Kahn, the Tallarn sniper was complaining about not having enough ammunition for his customized sniper rifle. Jacob Gangrel opened the side door of the wagon and held his knife in its scabbard and patted his slugthrower. Showing Kahn he had full ammo. Gangrel and Wulf had never seen eye-to-eye and were constantly bickering about battlefield tactics or which drink was stronger. "Right there's a town suffering from constant attacks from greenskins. We have been hired to take care of them. Maybe I can get enough cash for some more ammo or a better weapon" addressed Wulf. He was currently suffering from lack of ammunition. Sharing some bullets with Grey but they were both in need of ammunition. They walked through the big metal gates that are usually shut. The town seemed glad to see them and some offered gifts and food. The four walked up the steps leading to the Mayor's hall. Inside the Mayor stood and walked over towards them.  
  
"I'm not very happy about hiring fugitives, but since we have no other choice you're hired," said the Mayor as he looked at them with disgust. "Maybe we won't help you," replied Wulf. The Mayor shut up and sat down. "I hope you have your own weapons because we are short ourselves" asked the Mayor. "Yes, but we may need some ammunition" answered Wulf "Ah, we do not have enough to spare," said the Mayor as he showed the four out of the hall.  
  
Wulf walked into the room he was staying in. It was pleasant enough; it was decorated like an old Viking hut. It had wooden walls and a mahogany wardrobe. This must be one of the nicest places he had stayed in, in his whole life. Thought Wulf as he got into bed, only to be woken by gunshots and the screams of dying men. 


	2. Night Fight

Wulf threw on his clothes and strapped on his flak jacket, he grabbed his autogun and examined the magazine. He had ten bullets. Outside orks were battering against the cast-iron gate and shooting wildly into the air. It was about half past two in the morning, there was not enough light to fight by and he had ten bullets two fend off what seemed like a hundred orks.  
  
He bolted down the stairs and saw Herlak Kahn sniping out of a window. Was it just Wulf or was Kahn mumbling: "nineteen...twenty..."  
  
Wulf opened the door and ran onto the ramparts of the wall. Gangrel was there, kicking off orks that clambered up onto the walls and shooting into the crowd of orks below. At the bottom courtyard Grey was bracing the iron gates with some of the villagers. Wulf switched his autogun to single shot to conserve ammunition and took aim. He fired once and the bullet ploughed into the ground. He cursed as he shot again and an ork fell, a bullet through the left eye.  
  
He shot three more times and only two orks fell. That's five bullets left, thought Wulf. The gates swung open and orks poured in. Wulf was surprised at the number of orks; instead of a hundred it was more like thirty. If this small warband could breach this fort then what could an army of them do?  
  
Grey roared as he punched an ork in the nose. He was like an ork, big, strong and not that bright. He ducked as an ork cleaver swung passed his head and returned the favour by clubbing the greenskin with the butt of his rifle. The ork Grey had punched in the nose rose, cupping its nose with a blood drenched hand. Grey plunged his knife into the ork's shoulder and then thrust it deep into the ork's throat. It fell to the ground and drowned in its own blood. He shot a few bullets into the crowd and dived back into the fray.  
  
Wulf saw Grey dive into the fight and Wulf got all sweaty and worried. He suddenly felt weak and feverish. There was something in the air. Spores maybe, he told himself. He released a shot down into the orks at the gate. Four left. He turned and saw an ork ladder being hoisted onto the wall. Five orks were on the rampart. Wulf, Gangrel and two villagers faced them. Waiting for the melee to begin.  
  
A renegade shot rang out and hit Gangrel in the thigh. Wulf heard a large shout of: "BASTARDS!" and Gangrel went down, bleeding heavily.  
  
Grey heard a cry and looked up. Blood, lots of it. Gangrel was down. Grey suddenly felt anger take him and shot wildly into the orks. His gun clicked, signalling that he had to re-load. No time for that, thought Grey as he dropped his gun and dived into the fight once again.  
  
It was over. Wulf sighed as he walked down to were the bulk of the fighting was at the gate and saw Grey. Grey was covered in ork blood and his own. His gun lay on the floor, also covered in blood. Empty shells lay everywhere. The villagers were piling up ork corpses and human ones.  
  
"That was a good fight," said Wulf. The villagers sighed and Grey attempted a smile but could not make it. "Gangrel will live. The bullet shattered his shin but he will live" Said Wulf. Grey's face lightened as he rose to his feet.  
  
"We have orders from Mayor Talbot to pursue the ork menace. We have a chance of destroying the orks in this quarter" Said a messenger to the townsfolk.  
  
"Should we go?" asked Kahn to Wulf.  
  
"Yes, but not you Gangrel" Replied Wulf  
  
"Why? I can fight. If not then I will man the heavy-bolter on the transport vehicle" pleaded Gangrel.  
  
"Very well. Scavenge ammo from the fallen weapons of the villagers and we will set off tomorrow with the town patrol" said Wulf as he walked back inside. 


	3. Into The Caves

At half past five the next morning they set off into the mountains that surrounded the town in a convoy of trucks. They knew which mountain the orks dwelt in but never had enough manpower to exterminate them, now the Mayor had realised the ork threat and had mustered around a thousand men. Wulf looked at his men. Kahn was exited, Grey was tired but willing to fight and Gangrel was limping onto the support gun on the half-track. "Are you sure you want to come?" asked Grey  
  
"Positive" Replied Gangrel as the trucks rumbled off into the desert towards the mountains.  
  
The trucks sat immobile at the foot of the caves as militia loaded guns and busied themselves around the convoy. "We assemble at this point. Wulf's men will go through the left hand tunnel whilst the rest of us take the centre and right tunnel" ordered the commanding sergeant of the raid. Great, thought Wulf, we get the cave that hasn't been scouted out and that we have no bloody clue what's inside.  
  
There was a cheer as the troops set off in their platoons into the cave and Wulf clambered back into the truck. Five troops had come with them from the town and had been put under Wulf's command. Gangrel had the pintle-mounted machine gun; Kahn perched next to Gangrel with his sniper-rifle resting on the gun mount, the five other troopers from the town sat in any free space while Grey sat in the passenger seat and Wulf was driving, both had autoguns at hand. The truck rumbled as it accelerated and entered the dark cavern complex.  
  
The only light to see and fight by was gone. It was pitch black except for the headlights of the transport. "Which way" asked Kahn impatiently.  
  
"I'm not sure. The map ended a few kilometres back," said Wulf  
  
"I say left," replied Kahn  
  
"Fine, left it is" said Wulf as he stepped on the acceleration pedal and zoomed into the darkness. The winding cave path opened into a huge glistening cavern. It looked big enough to hold a titan and still have room left. "Holy..." said Grey trailing off, everyone looked up in awe. "It's amazing," exclaimed Gangrel as he climbed off the truck and limped forward a few steps. Wulf noticed they were on a cliff ledge and there was a long way down below. The glitter from the crystals lit the cave and made it as light as day. Wulf observed the cave and it finally dawned on him what it was... A Tyranid Hive.  
  
The walls were a strange light brown and spores floated around the cavern. Some of the spores were larger, Spore Mines, thought Wulf. "Out! Everyone, it's a Tyranid Hive!" screamed Wulf. You idiot, thought Wulf as his shouts had attracted the unwanted attention off several winged Tyranids that were flapping their way towards Gangrel. He was an easy target with the wounded leg; it would take him to long to get back to the truck, even if it was a few paces since these Tyranids are fast little buggers.  
  
The winged Tyranids known to mankind as Gargoyles had slimy black skin, large bulbous heads and bio engineered guns that were attached to their hands. On their back was a thick purple carapace that acted as armour and of course the bat like wings that carried the filthy abominations. The Gargoyle at the head of the Tyranid swarm opened fire with its bio gun. Green plasma like substances erupted from the gun's mouth and smashed into the rock. The plasma tried to eat into the rock, thinking it was flesh but instead died away.  
  
"Open fire!" ordered Wulf as he took aim and put three bullets into one of the winged beasts. The ammo crisis was over; Wulf had taken bullets from the fallen and reloaded his own firearm. Kahn put one out instantly while Grey peppered one full of bullets. The Gargoyles reached the ledge as Gangrel was limping back to the truck as fast as he could, one of the Tyranids grabbed Wulf with it's back legs and attempted to throw him off the ledge but Grey intercepted and cracked the monster's skull with the butt of his autogun. Kahn put another one out of the sky and one of the Gargoyles hurled the trooper from the fort town off the ledge, there was a crumping sound and the Tyranid Ripper Swarms at the foot of the cliff stripped him of all flesh.  
  
Higgins, a militia from the town was hit by plasma. A burning sound was all he heard before his skin, bone and internal organs had been eaten away by the satisfied bio-plasma. Gangrel made it to the truck and leant on the front windscreen, shooting into the Tyranid swarm. By this point everyone had disembarked and were fighting the Tyranids in a bloody melee. Then a dying Gargoyle crashed into the truck and dislodged the handbrake, the truck lurched forward and toppled off the cliff edge, dragging Gangrel along with it.  
  
That's strange, thought Gangrel as the truck started to move. It's Wulf he's pulling us out of here, we're going back to the town and we'll drink ale and have a warm bed to sleep in. Wait... If we're going home then why is he driving forward? Oh crap... 


	4. Run To The Town

Wulf saw the truck topple and fall off the ledge. Gangrel with it. This can't be happening, thought Wulf. He had fought with Gangrel in countless battles, against orks, the Eldar and even renegade Space Marines. He could mourn later though, he had Tyranids to fight. He switched his weapon to full auto and emptied a whole magazine into the Tyranid swarm and a dozen fell. Grey fought with a new fury and Kahn didn't seem put off at all, just a job.  
  
Wulf realised that they were making no difference in this fight. There were still around fifty Tyranids left and now there was only Kahn, Wulf and Grey left. Time to leave, thought Wulf. "Everyone, pull back! We make for the town," screamed Wulf as he turned and ran. The others followed him through the caverns. They had left a trail of motor oil so they could find their way back easily. The Gargoyles followed but eventually lost interest in such small a prey.  
  
They made it into the open desert. Wulf squinted as his eyes adjusted. His black flak armour was torn he had lost his autogun while they had fled. His face was a mixture of red and black from the sweat and soot from the cave. Kahn was quite unscathed since he spent most of the fight hiding behind rocks, firing his sniper rifle into the swarm. Grey was bleeding from a dozen small cuts and his vest was ripped. He had his autogun but it was out of ammo. They walked down a slope to where the assembly point was but something was wrong. All the town's militia that were down there were dead. Tyranid bio-acid had burnt through their flesh and armour. A truck was still left intact though. Wulf, Grey and Kahn climbed into the vehicle and spread off to the town.  
  
The town's gate was open; it had been blasted open though. Seven men lay dead. Spores covered the town, making it hard to see. They disembarked and stood in an empty courtyard. There was no noise or no one to be seen. "Head to the Mayor's hall" ordered Wulf. Grey and Kahn nodded in agreement and ran up the street to the large hall. The door was barricaded but they let the three of them in when they found out they had some extra guns. "What happened?" asked Wulf  
  
"Tyranids stormed the town. They took us by surprise" replied the Mayor. The Mayor, Solomon and five tired guards were all that was left of the town. There were a few civilians hiding in houses but they would eventually die from the spores that clog up the lungs and stop breathing. They were safe in here though, because the hall was on an elevated position the spores couldn't reach them.  
  
"Are they allied with the orks?" asked Grey.  
  
"Of course not. Tyranids never ally"  
  
"How do you know?" asked Wulf with a grin.  
  
"Because there are hundreds of ork corpses out there," replied one of the guards.  
  
"What happened to you? Wasn't there another one of your squad?" asked the Mayor "Yes, he fell in battle. We took a wrong turn in the cavern complex and ended up in a Tyranid Hive. On the way back we found the militia dead"  
  
"I received a reply from the senior officials off planet. They have scheduled this world to be cleansed in the next hour," said the Mayor grimly. Wulf new about cleansing. When a world is inhabited by too many aliens the Imperium 'cleanse' it by wiping out all life on the planet, leaving the world an uninhabitable wasteland. If the cleansing is taking place in the next hour then we haven't got long to live, thought Wulf.  
  
"We are going to die," said the Mayor  
  
"You, maybe. But not us. There must be a ship somewhere we can use," said Wulf desperately.  
  
"Maybe, but we'll be killed be the Tyranids before we can reach the docking bays," answered the Mayor.  
  
"You can stay here and die then. I'll at least die fighting" said Wulf as he walked to the door with Grey and Kahn.  
  
"Okay. We'll come," said the Mayor as he picked up a laspistol and stood up. The five guards were armed with lasguns and so was Solomon.  
  
Wulf opened the door and set his new lasgun to half-power and ordered the Mayor and his men to do so aswell. No point in over killing the alien bastards, that would just waste ammo. They set off down the steps towards the truck Wulf had arrived in. It was quiet. Until Tyranids started pouring out of the buildings. Wulf dropped one automatically with a red las shot through the cranium. Mayor Talbot shot one twice with his laspistol but it didn't stop it. These breeds of Tyranid were known as Hormagaunts. They were the fastest aliens in the universe and had deadly scythes jutting out of where their hands should have been. The Hormagaunt reached the Mayor and plunged its scythe into the Mayor's chest. There was a bone cracking sound as the Mayor fell to the ground, spitting out blood. He lasted long, thought Wulf as he shot another Tyranid to the ground. He was a better aim with a lasgun; it was lighter and easier to shoot. Grey punched one of the aliens and then pelted it full of bullets from his slug-throwing autogun. One of the Mayor's bodyguards fell with no head while another lost an arm and eventually his head aswell. Kahn was at the back, dropping an alien with every shot. Solomon was doing surprisingly well while locked in a grapple with one of the beasts.  
  
After a bloody melee the Tyranids fled out of the town gate, knowing they couldn't win. Wulf reached the truck and jumped in. There were eight of them and the truck could hold five. It didn't matter though, they held onto anything they could. Wulf hit the pedal and they shot out of the town gate. Being pursued by hundreds of Tyranids. Kahn was shooting at the Tyranids as they sped off towards the docking bays. Wulf would tell Kahn to save ammunition but knew Kahn wouldn't listen. It was about five miles to the docking bays, that's about a ten-minute drive, thought Wulf, worried about what they would encounter there. 


	5. Escape

The docking bays were a series of long black buildings. Usually they would be packed with people but now it was deserted. Wulf jumped down from the transport along with Grey, Kahn, Solomon and the three guards. They entered one of the docking bay buildings and approached a stationary spacecraft. "Finally we can get off this rock" said one of the Mayor's guards as he approached the ship. "No! Get back" Cried Wulf as Tyranids poured out of every orifice in the building. A Hormagaunt slit the guards throat and then leapt at Kahn, but Kahn raised his sniper-rifle and blasted away the creature's chest at point blank range. Kahn was covered in pus and alien blood.  
  
Wulf opened fire and put two of the beasts down; Grey did the same but killing four. Solomon shot into the crowd of aliens, keeping his distance while Wulf, Grey and the two remaining guards leapt into the Tyranid horde, punching and shooting as they went. There must have been at least thirty of the Tyranid scum, some larger than others. These must be the ones that keep the swarm organised, thought Wulf as he swung the butt of his lasgun into the side of a Hormagaunt's skull. The largest Tyranid of the group stood as tall as a battle tank and looked as armoured as one aswell. It had four pairs of scythes erupting from the stumps of its arms. It looked at the two guards and ripped one in two with one of its scythes; it then spun round and bit off the other guard's head clean off his shoulders. It then turned to Grey.  
  
Grey shot into the Tyranids and turned around to see the largest damn Tyranid he'd ever seen. He felt tired and just wanted to collapse on the floor, but he knew that would mean instant death. Wulf amazed him, Grey must be twice the size of Wulf but Wulf didn't show any hint of fatigue or tiredness. He almost forgot about the mammoth of a Tyranid staring at him. He lifted his autogun and pulled and held the trigger. Bullets soared into the monster but just reflected of the alien's armoured carapace. The Horror looked at Grey and was that a grin that appeared on its face? Grey felt as if the fighting around him had stopped and it was just he and the big alien in the large room. The creature looked strangely beautiful, he lowered his autogun and then dropped it on the floor. The creature started grinning. It stood looking at Grey and all was quiet... The area around the two was all black in Grey's eyes until something interfered...  
  
Wulf saw Grey stood staring into the massive Tyranid's eyes. This Tyranid was the leader of the Tyranids on this world, the dictator of the Hive, known as the Hive Tyrant. It was psychic and there was no doubt that psychic energies had Grey enthralled. He would not lose another good man to these xenos filth. He ran forward and ploughed into the alien with such a force an Ork's fart couldn't match it. The Hive Tyrant lost concentration and fell to the ground allowing Kahn to put a rifle round through the unarmoured Tyranid's eye. The bullet shot through the creature's eye and into its brain. The Hive Tyrant never rose again.  
  
Without the Hive Tyrant's synapse control the Hormagaunts panicked and fled or fell to Wulf's wrath. Wulf had won once more. Grey hugged Wulf in thanks and kicked a few Tyranid corpses, as usual he looked terrible, his face was a mixture of red and purple colour from the mix of blood. Kahn was bleeding from a cut on his forehead but otherwise he was fine. Solomon stood with a large knife covered in Tyranid blood, he had dropped his lasgun when the battery depleted. He was anxious about what to do now. The world he grew up on was alien infested and was about to be destroyed. He had to leave and live alone in Emperor-knows-where... Unless he joined with Wulf. There was time to think about that later.  
  
Wulf ran into the spacecraft and automatically took off. The ship rumbled and started to whir as the engines revved up. He felt a lurching feeling as the ship lifted off the ground and shot into space. Grey and Solomon sat in the back while Kahn sat next to Wulf in the cockpit.  
  
Wulf looked down into the Tyranid swarm below and a phrase came into his head that he hadn't thought of in along time:  
  
CONTEMNO XENOS, CAEDO XENOS, DEFAECO XENOS.  
  
HATE THE ALIEN, KILL THE ALIEN, PURIFY THE ALIEN.  
  
It was the motto of the Space Marine chapter known as the Deathwatch. Why would he know that though? 


End file.
